Illinois companies attracted more than $1.1 billion in venture capital in 2015, ranking it sixth in a survey of 2015 funding.

The state drew nearly half of the Midwest total but less than 2 percent of the money deployed nationwide, according to a new MoneyTree Report by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association based on data from Thomson Reuters.

California led the nation with more than $33.7 billion in funding, $27.3 billion of that in Silicon Valley. New York tallied $6.2 billion, Massachusetts $5.7 billion, and Washington and Texas each drew about $1.2 billion.

Maura O'Hara ⇒, executive director of the Illinois Venture Capital Association, said the state's total is in line with how much of the venture pie Illinois usually claims and noted that California routinely dominates the market. In 2015, the state took 57 percent of the nation's venture capital.

"If you look at it that way, 49 states are sharing" a minority of capital, O'Hara said. "We're probably getting more than our lion's share."

More than $741 million of Illinois' $1.1 billion went to 49 early-stage deals, up from $475 million across 43 deals that reached nearly $1.1 billion in 2014, the report showed. There was a drop in later-stage funding, with about $190 million in 2015, compared with $386 million the previous year despite only one fewer deal.

After financial services, which brought in more than $346 million, software and biotechnology were the next highest-funded sectors in Illinois, attracting $261 million and $132 million, respectively. The software industry also had the greatest number of deals, 28, compared with five in financial services and six in biotechnology.

There were 13 media and entertainment deals in 2015, but they only raised about $90 million.